Sun: IBM's Solaris-Linux migration offer is "act of desperation"

Sun wasted no time in responding to IBM's announcement (yesterday) that it had formalized a Solaris-to-Linux migration program and that it would be providing migration assessments at no charge. The move by IBM isn't just a shot at Sun.

Sun wasted no time in responding to IBM's announcement (yesterday) that it had formalized a Solaris-to-Linux migration program and that it would be providing migration assessments at no charge. The move by IBM isn't just a shot at Sun. Throughout IBM's discussion of the project, Big Blue is placing more than the average amount of emphasis on its OpenPower architecture (found in its 'i' and 'p' series servers). Over the last year, IBM has been turning up the server heat on both Microsoft (with Linux) and Intel (with OpenPower) -- so much so that I think I'll need to write another blog with the title IBM: All roads lead to Linux and Power. But for now, in the battle of the *ix's, here (in a prepared statement broadcast via e-mail) is what Sun's director of operating system marketing Chris Ratcliffe had to say regarding IBM's migration program.

IBM's attack smacks of desperation, an attempt to create a fog screen around the momentum behind Solaris 10. In light of the advantages of Solaris 10 over Red Hat, such as superior performance, security, indemnification, we're seeing enterprises like J.P. Morgan migrating to Solaris -- not the other way around.

Just as interesting in the e-mail however was the pitch from Sun's PR counsel:

As you know, IBM announced a Solaris to Red Hat migration program today. We're not surprised by this move -- it's obviously driven by increasing momentum around Solaris 10. And competitive migration campaigns are common, we have them against HP-UX and AIX, among others. In fact we're seeing movement in the other direction -- away from Red Hat -- driven by a lack of support, lack of supported platforms, and lack of enterprise class features.